


A Day in the Life of a Chef

by WinglessCrows



Series: Through the Eyes of a Cook [31]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Adventure, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-27 07:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15020009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinglessCrows/pseuds/WinglessCrows
Summary: Sanji ends up cooking for bandits who think they can kill him.





	A Day in the Life of a Chef

Sanji woke up in a very uncomfortable state. His back was aching, and the ground he was lying on was both muddy and pointy. Something was licking his hand, and he could taste blood, as well as something sour inside his mouth, which he immediately spat out. His head hurt, but it seemed like there was no damage other than a small bump, which was a good thing considering what had happened. He didn't have any broken bones either, and the thing licking him was a very harmless fox, so his immediate discomfort had turned out to be no more than that, thank God.

Sanji patted the fox and got on his feet to check his surroundings. There wasn't really much to look at other than just trees, more trees and then some other trees. It was a forest after all. He didn't really know where he was either. Sanji had been walking with the rest of the crew, having a good time, planning dinner, when something beneath them had exploded and literally sent them flying all over the place. By some miracle he had ended up alone with no idea where to go to find someone or even just the Sunny, so Sanji was pretty lost. Then again, it wasn't like there was any danger or threat posed by either monsters or enemies, so as long as no one was seriously hurt, it should all be fine. Sanji figured that it didn't really matter what direction he went in, the forest had to stop somewhere, and when he reached the shore, he could just follow it until he eventually reached the Sunny. A pretty sound plan if you asked Sanji and how big could this forest actually be...

Pretty big it turned out. Sanji had been walking for hours by now. The sun was setting and though there was plenty to eat, just walking without even knowing where he was headed wasn't the most interesting of things. For all Sanji knew, he could have been at the edge of the forest, close to the Sunny and then chosen to go in the opposite direction. The most frustrating thing was that Sanji actually could navigate in the forest. He could tell where North was by looking at the trees and the position of the sun, but they had docked the Sunny at noon and Sanji hadn't taken the time to ask where they had located her, so navigation didn't help him in the slightest. There wasn't much else to do, but keep walking and hope that the island wasn't much bigger than first anticipated.

By nightfall Sanji decided that he might as well make camp and found a spot where he could sleep more or less comfortably. He didn't get much sleep though, as a scream suddenly cut through the night and caught his attention. Sanji didn't recognize the voice, but sprinted towards the source with no hesitation. After a short run Sanji found a young boy. He could be no older than fourteen and it seemed that he had managed to fall down and hurt his leg.

"Do you need any help," Sanji asked, but apparently startled the boy while doing so and he took a step back to show that he was no threat.

"Who are you?" The boy asked bewildered, and Sanji put on a smile.

"Just a passing cook." The boy said nothing... "Do you live on this island? Do you want me to help you back?" Sanji offered as he couldn't find it in him to leave this injured child alone in the woods.

"My village lies just west of here," the boy said without looking him in the eye and Sanji helped him to his feet, then proceeded to carry to boy on his back.

"Just west of here, huh?" Sanji mused, he had been walking west anyway, and if the village was close that meant that Sanji would have stumbled upon it eventually, and who knows, maybe some of his crew mates were there as well.

They walked for a few minutes before Sanji began seeing the end of the forest. The trees started thinning out and he felt like he had reached some kind of milestone. He was just so happy to be out of the forest. It took them less than two minutes to reach the edge of the forest, but what Sanji found wasn't a village. The place looked like a deserted camp or base of some sort. There were big tents, some worn out camp fires and a few random possessions lying about. There were crates of questionable food, and Sanji spotted some poisonous things mixed in with what would be perfectly good fruits and vegetables. Not really the most optimal to place to put them,. Either way, it was clear that the boy had lied to him about the village.

Sanji was not really surprised when the boy suddenly whistled and a band of men sprang out from various bushes and tents to grab him and steal the boy away from him. None of them were strong and if Sanji fought back he could easily defeat them all in less than a minute, but he was rather curious as to what they thought they were getting out of capturing him. They had three men holding him in place and another five surrounding him with rifles, while the boy was being supported by a person standing in front of him. At least he hadn't faked his injury and Sanji had not been carrying him around for nothing.

"You said you were a cook, right?" The boy said aggressively and Sanji merely nodded. "Well, then, if you don't want to die, then make us some food! Now!"

Sanji looked at the boy for a moment before answering, "Why don't you make it yourself? You seem to have plenty food and plenty people."

"This forest is full things we don't know and we've already lost five people to poison, so you will cook for us, taste test for us, and then we'll think about letting you leave alive."

Sanji looked around at the people around him. They all looked hungry and desperate, and as a chef Sanji couldn't possibly turn his back on them, but if they wanted food they would have to cooperate.

"Fine. But you'll have to help me if you want food any time soon. You!" Sanji said and pointed at a random dude to his right, making the guy holding his arm fall backwards, "Throw away all the blue coloured berries."

"But what if there are any blueberries?" The guy said completely clueless.

"Poisonous." Sanji explained, "The blueberries on this island all have a red top. That makes them poisonous."  _Seriously, did these guys know nothing?_

Sanji was then pushed along into a tent that had the worst cooking equipment Sanji had ever laid eyes on, but he just had to deal with that. He had already committed himself to doing this. The situation was quite fun though. Sanji knew that if they ever tried anything he could just beat them up and stroll right out of there, but for now they were just doing whatever he commanded and Sanji took full advantage of that. They may have been hungry, but Sanji knew that they weren't actually starving, so it was all good sport to make them run twice as much as needed to.

The really fun part came after he had served the food and they were all so impressed by his cooking that they invited him to join them.

"Are you guys pirates?" Sanji asked, because they sure as hell didn't seem like it.

"We are mountain bandits, but we had to flee from our island, when they said up a marine base. So we came here, but it didn't really turn out that well."  _Didn't really turn out well..._ What an odd way to describe a situation where five people died.

"Well, I am sorry to disappoint but I can't join you guys. I'm already part of a crew that I love very much."

"Could you repeat that? I don't think I heard that correctly," a teasing voice peeped up and Sanji looked to the newly arrived Franky who had a very smug look on his face.

"I said that my crew mates are annoying and that they take me for granted. Maybe I  _should_  join these mountain bandits!" Sanji replied sarcastically and they both laughed.

"Say. Why are you here anyway?" Usopp who had arrived with Franky asked.

"Oh, I was captured and they threatened to kill me if I didn't cook for them," Sanji said nonchalantly.

"That sounds absolutely  _terrible,_ " Usopp answered and made a very exaggerated horrified look, "How will you ever escape!?"

"In my dreams, Nami-swan rides in on a white horse and saves me," Sanji said lovingly and made a swooning motion, "And then we'll marry and live happily ever after."

"Sounds like a good dream, but she's probably waiting for us on the Sunny with the rest," Franky said, and Sanji took the hint to leave.

"Well then, bye bye," Sanji waved to them and tore of the chains they had put on him. They tried, very badly, to make him stay, but none of them would have been a challenge to Usopp, even if he had been blindfolded, so Sanji literally just strolled over to Franky and Usopp, and let them guide him home.


End file.
